Hantavirus scare puts ‘Hoarding’ home in lockdown

A home in The Woodlands remained under quarantine on Saturday as health officials wait for test results to confirm the presence of the deadly rodent-borne hantavirus.

Officials took the unusual step of closing the house on a small cul-de-sac in the 11000 block of Slash Pine Drive after a woman who had been helping clean the home for the TLC television show “Hoarding: Buried Alive” developed a respiratory illness, said Dr. Mark Escott, of Montgomery County’s deputy local health authority.

The female patient was treated at a hospital in Montgomery County, but specifics of her condition can’t be released, Escott said.

Montgomery County health officials plan to drive on Sunday to Austin with another sample from the house to test at a state laboratory. “We’re expecting that result will be positive,” Escott said of the report, which should be available late Monday afternoon.

Timely interruption

In the meantime, a sheriff’s deputy will remain stationed outside the home to keep people out of harm’s way.

The quarantine was timely and necessary, Escott said, because a clean-up crew was about to rip out the carpet in the home when he arrived Friday afternoon. “That could have resulted in significant exposure,” he said.

This year, Texas has seen about 35 cases of hantavirus, Escott said. The disease is fatal in 35 percent to 40 percent of cases, he said.

Neighbors who live on the block helped organize the home’s clean-up. Production crews came to the house on Aug. 28 and there were about 30 people involved in assisting with the clean-up.

Maria Celaya, who lives on the corner of the cul-de-sac, said she was not able to participate in the clean-up because she was at work the day it happened.

She’d never been inside the home, but noticed prior to the clean-up that there were many bins and boxes stacked on the woman’s front porch. She said she does not know the homeowner personally, but knows she’s been going through a lot.

“I just really feel sorry for her,” Celaya said.

Library connection

Celaya, who’s lived in the neighborhood for six years, and other neighbors on the block said they have read a lot of information about the disease and have little fear of contracting it, adding that they have no plans to move. “I’m not going anywhere,” Celaya said.

Only the people inside the house recently to clean need to worry about hantavirus exposure in this case, Escott said, advising they be on alert for flu-like symptoms and, if warranted, see their doctors or go to an emergency room.

About 200 books from the home recently donated to Friends of the Houston Public Library for resale have all been accounted for, said Maya Houston, executive director of the Houston Public Library Foundation, which oversees the Friends group.

The group was notified Thursday about the possible health threat and immediately attempted to locate the books.

“Most were immediately identified and sealed into boxes. Because the Friends could not positively identify all of the books, after consulting with infectious disease specialists, it took the immediate action of closing the warehouse and suspending all operations at the warehouse site, pending the Health Department’s investigation,” Houston said in a statement.

Five people involved with collecting the books are being monitored by the Baylor College of Medicine’s Infectious Diseases Department, authorities said.

Those who handled the books, Escott said, are at less risk than those who were cleaning because the virus must be “aerosolized,” or broken up into particles suspended in air, to spread.

Awaiting test results

Once the state lab results are known, Montgomery County officials will confer with the state health department and possibly the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine what steps are necessary to ensure no further risk of transmission, Escott said,

According to the CDC in Atlanta, a group of hantaviruses can cause a rare but deadly disease called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which is carried by some kinds of mice and rats.

Prevention tips

Since it’s hard to know which mice or rats carry the disease, the CDC says it’s best to avoid all wild mice and rats and to safely clean up any rodent urine, droppings or nests in your home.

Escott advised using a licensed professional to clean up mice or rat feces or urine so the material doesn’t become airborne and infect people inside the house.

“The message for the folks in the community, including the larger community, is that it emphasizes the importance of good rodent control around the house and in people’s businesses,” he said. “Rodents can cause serious diseases.”